Goldencents will be on the Derby trail from January according to Doug O’Neill
After earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 89 in his second career victory, when he won the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot, only in his third career start, Goldencents is looking like a possible Derby contender, and all doubts were eradicated when Kentucky
Derby winning trainer, Doug O’Neill will get on the Derby trail with Goldencents next January, in a race yet to be determined.
Goldencents, who travelled to Santa Anita Park on Sunday, will be on the track, but according to trainer Doug O’Neill, he will take it easy for the next few weeks, and the training will intensify as they enter January for his seasonal debut as a sophomore.
Doug O’Neill trained last year’s Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes winner, I’ll Have Another, and he sees something special in Goldencents, and only after his third start.
The juvenile colt by Into Mischief debuted at Del Mar where he went on to break his maiden at first asking over a distance of 5 ½ furlongs on 2 September, 2012, and then went all the way to New York to participate in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes, where he
finished second to the unbeaten, Shanghai Bobby, and now his first start and win in Louisville.
In the Delta Downs Jackpot, Goldencents turned in an impressive wire-to-wire victory, and held off the favoured, Bern Identity, in the dying stages of the race and won by 1 ¾ lengths in the 1 1/16 miles event in 1 minute and 44.89 seconds.
“I think I was most impressed that he’s a horse, third start of his life….he never turned a hair,” said O’Neill. “Kevin rode him with a ton of confidence, which I like. We had to use him a little more than we wanted because of the [outside] post we were
in, but it didn’t seem to faze him at all. He had a clean trip and kept on going.
“He came back awesome. He came back in great shape, and the future is bright with him.”
The Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes winner, Know More, and ran eighth in the Jackpot, will be with Goldencents in Southern California, and according to Doug O’Neill, the colt came out fine out of the race.